What Are We to Each Other? The Limits of DNA in the Search for Origins in Donor Conception

For decades, third-party reproduction was shrouded in secrecy, and gamete donation was anonymous in most countries. This situation was challenged, however, by the increased attention to the harmful effects of family secrets and by the claims of donor-conceived people seeking access to their origins. The rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) DNA testing further transformed the landscape, leading some individuals to discover their donor conception unexpectedly and others to bypass anonymity rules. In the social sciences, origins have sparked new questions, shedding light on the meanings attributed to procreation and relatedness. The search for origins has been analysed either as reinforcing essentialist views of kinship and identity or as part of a relational, temporal, and narrative process. Yet little is known about how donor-conceived people actually navigate this search. Drawing on an ethnographic study with French and English sperm donor-conceived adults, this chapter examines how they use DTC DNA testing to explore their origins. It documents their investigative methods and interpretative techniques, and highlights both the insights and the limitations of DNA, as well as the epistemological framework employed by genetic genealogy websites to produce knowledge about origins in donor conception.